Maurizio Sarri’s men were aiming to consolidate their place in the top four with a win over Udinese, who were themselves looking for a top-half Serie A finish for the first time in 10 years.
The hosts’ top scorer Immobile had a strong start to the game, almost opening the scoring when only a Marco Silvestri parry stopped his header from rippling the back of the net.
Udinese had only beaten the Biancocelesti once in the previous 16 meetings, and they struggled once again in the first half, allowing the visitors plenty more opportunities to take the lead. The best of those fell to Luis Alberto who, after being perfectly teed up by Immobile, fired a shot narrowly wide as the two sides went into the interval on level terms.
At the start of the second period, Silvestri was on hand to again deny Immobile, this time getting down low to deny a well-struck effort.
However, the visitors finally found a breakthrough shortly after the hour mark when Immobile, who had been fouled by Tolgay Arslan inside the area, stepped up to slot the subsequent spot-kick beyond Ivan Provedel. Alessio Romagnoli almost doubled Lazio’s advantage soon afterwards, crashing a header against the post from a corner.
Although the hosts were unbeaten in their previous eight Serie A home games, they were cut apart by Lazio with ease throughout the second period. Alberto, in particular, caused Udinese’s defence all sorts of problems and produced a clever pass to put Sergej Milinkovic-Savic through on goal, only for the midfielder to scuff his effort wide.
Sandi Lovric was the Bianconeri’s sole bright spark in the second half, going closest with a long-range effort that was deflected narrowly over the bar.
Ilija Nestorovski nearly made an instant impact from the bench when he directed a header home, but it was swiftly ruled out for offside as Lazio hung on to the three points. The win takes the Rome-based outfit four points clear of fifth-placed AC Milan with just two games remaining, meaning their Champions League spot for next term is almost secure.
Udinese, meanwhile, sit in mid-table and have nothing to play for other than pride until the end of the campaign.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Luis Alberto (Lazio)
